NEWS

GUNFIRE PUTS END TO ATV OUTING NEAR ORTING

By: Monica Haman July 16, 2008

Doug Scheppe’s 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son never want to go down to the Carbon River again.

Pierce County prosecutors contend that a 49-year-old Orting resident opened fire on the children, their father and uncle as the group rode three ATVs along the river Sunday evening.

No one was hit, but the incident put a scare into the family and ruined a nice day of visiting, eating barbecue and generally having fun, Scheppe told The News Tribune on Tuesday.

“I’m just shaking still,” the 44-year-old Kirkland resident said. “It was like being under fire in a war or something.”

Deputy prosecutor Phil Sorensen charged Robert Murray Burch with four counts of first-degree assault Tuesday. Sorensen wrote in charging documents that Burch fired a .22-caliber rifle at the Scheppes “with the intent to inflict great bodily harm.”

For the source of this article read the Tacoma News Tribune story.

The News Tribune
ADAM LYNN; adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com Published: July 16th, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: July 16th, 2008 05:55 AM